The content below was collected by Micki Denton from prior posts on Facebook by Steve Diederich. Steve has not reviewed or approved these posts. The experiences described in these posts were Steve’s at the time he took the ride. Each rider’s experience is unique. These posts do not describe what is usual or likely for the ride described.

2016 Butt Lite VIII Rally

The Rally

Butt Lite VIII will run 6 days, from Sunday, July 3rd to Saturday, July 9th, 2016. The rally will start & finish in Colorado and will include one checkpoint.

On the fence? Need a bit of convincing that this is the rally for you? We guarantee a grand time for all, lots of great bonuses, wonderful roads and the best swag in all of LD rallying. A better vacation cannot be had.

Did you know? The last 4 Iron Butt Rally winners are all Butt Lite veterans and the one before that was a winner of multiple TeamStrange rallies.
50% of the 2015 IBR Gold Medal Finishers are Butt Lite finishers, including all of the top 3 riders. Eric Jewell won Butt Lite 1. Josh Mountain won Butt Lite 7.
54% of the Silver Medal Finishers are Butt Lite finishers.

The partnership between Butt Lite & the Iron Butt Rally continues. As in years past, the top 10 finishers in Butt Lite will receive a non-draw spot in the 2017 Iron Butt Rally. TeamStrange will pay the entry fee into the IBR for the first place winner of Butt Lite VIII.

Don’t delay. Butt Lite 7 sold out in less than 72 hours. We are fairly certain Butt Lite VIII will be just as popular.

July 2, 2016 – Marriott Denver Tech Center – Denver, CO
RADIO SILENCE… Welp, the time has come. The start of the Butt Lite VIII Motorcycle (Scavenger Hunt) 6-Day Rally. And, us Riders are banned from ANY Social Media, Blogging, Public Forum posting of Anything (Otherwise we will be sad). So, this is my last post for the next 6-days/144-hours.
You can follow the Public Blog for the event: http://buttliteviii.blogspot.com. And, follow All the Riders on the Public SpotWalla SPOT tracking page: https://spotwalla.com/locationViewer.php?id=336.
Wish me Luck, Safe Travels & Fun! Ciao

July 9, 2016 – Awards Banquet

July 14, 2016 – Home Safe & Sound from Butt Lite VIII. Playing catch up. Had a great time/ride. Happy with placing 24th out of 78 finishers; considering the mistakes I made! :\
As you can see, the bike got pretty dirty! And, will be till I get around to cleaning it (blah). Exploding-on-impact bugs in Arizona, mostly.
Here’s all where I rode 5,700 miles in 6 days…

Image

I am Car-less. Have been now for 366 days (leap year) since I turned in my lease. As with most people, I’ve had a car my whole adult life; since I was 21. Now here I am, one year in and I am OK.

Downsizing from 4 wheels to 2 is a challenge, but having a large, touring motorcycle, with plenty of storage, helps of course. I work from home, am an empty nester, and it doesn’t hurt that I LOVE riding – Everywhere.

Fully adopting the 2 wheel lifestyle included moving across the country this past year by motorcycle. No packed car. No moving van. Just rode, and had twenty-one boxes shipped from New York to California.

As one would expect, I am free from the expenses and hassles of maintaining a car, but I’ve realized other benefits as well. I walk more places now, that I may have just jumped in a car to go to: Stores, Out to dinners, Movies, etc. For the times when two-wheels and/or two-seats is not enough: I’ve used Uber. Had groceries delivered to my door. Ordered larger items online. Or, worked out things with friends (who have cars).

Being car-less may not work for everyone, but fits my circumstances well. Being able to ride 365.25 days a year is a tremendous benefit. I’m not sure that I’ll be car-less forever, but it’s working for now, and I’m Liking It!

Your ride needs to be completely documented (steps outlined below) and cover a minimum distance of 1,000 miles in 24 hours or less. In order to keep these rides from becoming a race, mileages in excess of 1,800 miles in less than 24 hours will not be published.

Please keep in mind, 24 hours is wall time, not riding time. So if you start your ride at 5:00 pm on June 1st, you must finish it before 5 pm on June 2nd.

The Ride

I’m going to be (sitting behind Steve who is) doing a California In-State SaddleSore 1000.
You can watch my route LIVE: https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=fc7856ba00521a64f
For more information on the Iron Butt Association that encourages & rewards this activity, visit http://www.ironbutt.com/ridecerts/getdocument.cfm?DocID=1

February 12, 2016 – Proposed Route (Leg 1)

February 12, 2016 – Actual Route & Agenda

February 15, 2016
7:09am – Here we go…

8:55am – Unscheduled stop… “Mic needs something from the trunk.”

3:22pm – Turnaround time! ! !

3:54pm – Mission Control

4:29pm – #YOLO

5:18pm – #chasingthesun

5:44pm – Probably the last pic for today. Goodbye warm Sun.

7:59pm – Stopped for a warm meal. On the last leg (in more ways than one).

8:33pm Rocking & Rolling to Rush 🙂

11:53pm Jiggity Jog, we’re home!

Beat & buggy bike back in its bungalow.

Thanks to Steve Diederich for letting me tag along on his California In-State SaddleSore 1000. It was great fun and, I dare say, easy – under the skilled direction of Mr. Diederich. Below… my official certificate.

The content below was collected by Micki Denton from prior posts on Facebook by Steve Diederich. Steve has not reviewed or approved these posts. The experiences described in these posts were Steve’s at the time he took the ride. Each rider’s experience is unique. These posts do not describe what is usual or likely for the ride described.

December 31, 2015

Rode to Palm Springs and back today. That’s it for the year. 33,858 (s)Miles Ridden in 2015. It was a good year 🙂 Happy New Years! :))

The content below was collected by Micki Denton from prior posts on Facebook by Steve Diederich. Steve has not reviewed or approved these posts. The experiences described in these posts were Steve’s at the time he took the ride. Each rider’s experience is unique. These posts do not describe what is usual or likely for the ride described.

The Rules

This ride celebrates the long-distance rider’s favorite short order grills in classic Waffle House® style and requires you to enjoy an egg dish at each stop.

The Ride

September 30, 2015 – All registered to ride the IBA EggSanity 1000 from Phoenix to Dallas in 24-hours or less in a couple weeks …with lots of breakfast eating! 🙂

October 14, 2015 – FINALLY cooling off. Was over 100 most of the afternoon. — in Arizona Desert.

October 14, 2015 near Albuquerque, NM – If Steve leaves California heading East, and Rob leaves Pennsylvania heading West, and each of them have an auxiliary Fuel Cell: How many total gas stops will it take till they meet in Texas?

The content below was collected by Micki Denton from prior posts on Facebook by Steve Diederich. Steve has not reviewed or approved these posts. The experiences described in these posts were Steve’s at the time he took the ride. Each rider’s experience is unique. These posts do not describe what is usual or likely for the ride described.

The Rules

SaddleSore 3000 – The SaddleSore Series consists of several rides. Each ride involves a distance challenge and a time challenge. There are no intermediate time or distance requirements (except as noted below). You may, however, create additional challenges for yourself if you want to increase the number of certificates for which you may qualify. See more details about nesting here.

Read the rules for the iconic SaddleSore 1000 on the Iron Butt Association site. The rules are identical to those of a SaddleSore 1000, except the mileage and time requirements are greater.

You may elect to ride more miles in any one day, as long as the total mileage of the entire ride is within the time challenge. So if your personal rhythm means you would rather ride 1,050 miles on day one and then take an extended motel stop, well into the second day, you may do so, as long as the total mileage is completed within the time challenge.

You have several options to bail out on these rides. The documents needed are the same as a SaddleSore 1000 so if you cannot complete, say, the SaddleSore 3000, you may still have successfully completed the SaddleSore 2000.

Motorcycle Tourer’s Forum Destination Hyder

The Prep & Ride

May 13, 2015 – New tires, New brake pads, New fluids all-around. All set for Alaska next week! — at Micro Bore Inc.

May 17, 2015 – I love my Gold Wing and I wouldn’t give it up, but.. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Changing the Air Filter is the biggest pain in the ass! I’m an hour-and-a-half in and I Just got to the filter (the red square). Now to put it back together (and not miss reconnecting anything). Needs replacing every 12,000 miles. I’ll be replacing it again in ~3 weeks. -_- — in Syracuse, New York.

May 17, 2015 – 3 days to Alaska, 8 days hitting all of the lower-48. Not much time for stopping. Gotta eat on the bike!

May 19, 2015 – Off to parts known. First stop: Pittsburgh, PA. The next 13,000 miles should be interesting! — in Syracuse, New York.

May 19, 2015 – Well, to leave from Alaska to hit the lower 48 States I need to first Get to Alaska. So, here I am in (near) Pittsburgh, PA leaving Wednesday morning to ride 3,000 miles in 3 days (an Iron Butt SaddleSore 3000 / SS3000). I’ll be in Hyder, Alaska by Friday night! Gonna be fun! Feel free to follow along

The content below was collected by Micki Denton from prior posts on Facebook by Steve Diederich. Steve has not reviewed or approved these posts. The experiences described in these posts were Steve’s at the time he took the ride. Each rider’s experience is unique. These posts do not describe what is usual or likely for the ride described.

March 10, 2015 near Benson, NC – Gas stop two of three. Now I can see through my windshield again; and the mirrors. Plus, I hardly feel the pain any more in my left wrist from dropping the bike in stop & go traffic on a rain slick, titled side road in Maryland ..and then picked all 1,000+ pounds of it up myself. Gotta love the Wing’s crash bars!

March 10, 2015 near Hardeeville, SC – Last gas stop. Next stop.. A pillow in Jacksonville.. In about 2.5 hours.

March 14, 2015 – Ha-Haa! Jacksonville, FL straight to Pedro’s “South Of The Border” ..without stopping. Had 0.2 gallons left in the main tank. Very Rainy though (if you wanted to know Robert).

March 15, 2015 – Got home from JAX last night Safe & Sound. And, wet. And, tired. And, cold. Did I mention wet? Like the most soaked I have ever been (that is, with my good gear that is waterproof, but completely failed me). I wrung out waterproof gloves. Changed socks. De-soaked my wallet. I held my iPhone under a gas stop’s bathroom hand dryer just so the touch screen would work again (it was inside my Stich!). Hahahaha (..I laugh now..). Probably 400+ miles of heavy rain. Then..THEN.. In PA, the fog-so-thick-you-could-cut-it-with-a-knife. I shadowed truckers just so they’d hit anything first. But, I made it. 12:45 AM and 37 out (already miss Florida). Nearly 19 hours and 1,100 miles of riding. Why? Cause I was concerned about this: This is what Syracuse looked like 9 hours later at 10:00 AM. I Love Riding! 🙂 — in Syracuse, New York